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(L-R) Daniel Jenkins, Jessica Hecht, Philip Bosco, Harriet Harris and Tammy Blanchard directed by Lonny Price in the Friends of Roundabout Playreading of Kaufman and Hart's You Can't Take it With You
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Roundabout’s Play Reading Series Ignites Artists and Audiences
by John Istel
“People sometimes think plays are just written and ready to go,” sighs Roundabout’s associate artistic director Scott Ellis. But he knows better: “The final production is the last part of a long process.” Often that process begins at Roundabout with a play reading, a invitation-only performance with scripts in hand and minimal staging of a new play or revival that the company wants to test drive. Roundabout presents play readings about six to eight times a year, and the performances are open only to invited audiences of company supporters including Friends of Roundabout and Chairman’s Circle Members.
Artists give these informal airings flat-out raves. “It’s of such vital importance because often you’re hearing something for the first time—you get to see how the audience reacts,” says Ellis. Director Michael Mayer, who opens Arthur Miller’s After the Fall at the American Airlines Theatre this summer, began work on the play years ago with a couple of readings, one of which featured film star Hilary Swank as Maggie, the character based on Marilyn Monroe. “Readings are a huge part of being an associate artist,” says Mayer. “The first thing I ever did with Roundabout was a staged reading of Once in a Lifetime with Nathan Lane, Sarah Jessica Parker, Madeline Kahn, Robert Klein, Tony Goldwyn, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Dick Cavett, who read stage directions—brilliantly. It was amazing.”
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Mary Beth Peil and Richard Easton in rehearsal for the Roundabout playreading ofWhat Every Woman Knows
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Artistic director Todd Haimes uses these readings as a low-key way for directors and actors to test a possible working relationship with Roundabout. In addition to Mayer, this year’s award-winning director of Assassins, Joe Mantello, began working with the company through the readings series. “Todd and I talked over the years about different projects,” says Mantello, “but for one reason or another they didn’t work out. Then we did a reading of Paula Vogel’s play Mineola Twins and afterwards I said this is a play that I’d really love to do. Either that night or the next day, Todd said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Performing these works for a live audience is a tremendous help to the artistic team, and the audiences in turn nurture the work. All members of the Friends of Roundabout are invited to attend at least one play reading during the season, and it is consistently one of the most popular benefits of membership. “They are a huge help,” Ellis says. “They guide and shape our view on the play and subsequent production.” Roundabout’s Play Reading audiences are select. “They’re a great audience, very educated and involved,” says Ellis. “They make an important contribution to the artistic process.”
“They’re a great audience, very educated and involved. They make an important contribution to the artistic process.”
Mason Adams and Chris O’Donnell in The Man Who Had All the Luck, which began as a Play Reading
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Another benefit is that actors become intrigued with projects easily. “It’s a way to get great artists to think about doing a play,” says Haimes. “If you offer an actor a play out of the blue that requires a five-month commitment they are reticent. But if you get them to do the play reading, which is only a one-day commitment, you can get them turned onto the project. That’s what happened with Nathan Lane, who years ago did a reading of The Man Who Came to Dinner. Two years later it was the first show to be produced in our newly restored American Airlines Theatre back in July 2000.”
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Nathan Lane in The Man Who Came to Dinner, another production to result from the Play Reading series
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The process is relatively simple. A play or musical project is proposed, either by Haimes or one of his artistic associates, or sometimes by an actor or outside director. Once Haimes signs off, a date is set. Then the director talks to Roundabout’s extraordinary casting team, Jim Carnahan and Mele Nagler, about casting and they start drawing up lists of possible performers. “We sit down with lists and make offers,” says Ellis. “We have to know the actors’ work since you wouldn’t audition them for a reading.” He makes the offers to the actors about two weeks before the date, which is usually a Monday night, when most every theatre in town is dark.
Ellis brings the cast together for a single rehearsal around 1 pm on Monday afternoon. They read the play around a table and decide what stage directions need to be read and what movements may be necessary for the audience to understand what’s going on. “I do them very simply,” says Ellis. “The actors are on chairs and just move as necessary. With Twelve Angry Men, which was a reading and will be produced next season, the actors just stood up naturally and walked around the stage a bit.” A few hours later, presto! The play is read before a live audience in whatever theatre is available. The Laura Pels Theatre in the new Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre is currently the home for most play readings, including Terrence McNally’s new play, Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams, which was presented this June.
Philip Bosco and Harriet Harris during rehearsal for the reading of You Can’t Take it With You
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Notwithstanding all the other rationales, the performance is the most important moment: it’s when the audiences and the theatre artists come together. For Chairman Circle donors, like Janet Christensen, who receive invitations to these readings because of their commitment to Roundabout, the star-studded events are one of the best perks. “I really, really enjoy those readings,” she says. In fact, some members like Arlene Cohen, find the quality so good “that I don’t always remember whether I saw the final production or only the first reading.”
Want to attend a play reading? Join the Friends of Roundabout with a gift of $100 or more, and you'll be invited to be part of this exciting series. For information on the benefits of membership and to make a gift, please click here or call Roundabout's Development Office at (212) 719-9393.
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